Bridging sorrowfully the new progressive goth of bands on The End with
European goth, My Dying Bride-like doom as well as hints of industrial goth,
Italy's How Like A Winter, have an expertly assembled slab here, save for
the electronic drums, which gives the presentation a stiff, shrill sheen
when cushy warmth might have worked better. Still, the ideas are plentiful
and often mesmerizing towards a Porcupine Tree or Pink Floyd direction. The
low Aaron-like (Fernando-like?) croon of vocalist and leader Dust works well
against the large variety of textures, many keyboardy, many sliced deftly
with violin, better than average metal riffs and thin, back-mixed female
vocals. Bottom line though: great material, odd, misguided mix, and er, get
a drummer. Best part, the names of the (typically large, co-ed) band: Dust,
Tragedy, Mist, Agony, Bane and Misery... shame on their mothers!Rating 6.5

Garry Sharpe-Young - Ozzy Osbourne: The Story Of The Ozzy Osbourne Band
(Rock Detector/Cherry Red)

This is a story that had to be told and down under insider Garry Sharpe
Young is the man to tell it, putting his meticulous er, detective work to
task, finding all manner of Ozzy sideman and facilitator to tell the story
of the work that really goes into making Ozzy Osbourne the crack band it is
(yes, band). It really is fascinating, the parade of drummers, guitarists
and bassists that have contributed to the legend, with Bob Daisley standing
far and above as the most important unsung hero, penning most of the man's
classic lyrics, playing bass, contributing to the music. I mean, just the
dozens of rarely reported trivia points on Sabbath alone are worth the price
of this book, an action-packed tome that actually ends around the 200 page
mark, the back half being exhaustive discography info for Ozzy as well as
all these "sidemen." See www.rockdetector.com for more info.Rating 8